Conventionally, a user of a vehicle carries a portable unit of radio transmission and comes close to or moves away from the vehicle, a so-called smart entry system is used to transmit signals for locking or unlocking a door for the vehicle. The system has an on-board equipment which is attached to the vehicle. The on-board equipment transmits an electromagnetic wave (request signal) for requesting transmission to an outside of the vehicle and receives the electromagnetic wave sent back from a portable unit. The portable unit is meant to send back the electromagnetic wave which has a predetermined code to the on-board equipment in response to a receipt of the electromagnetic wave for requesting transmission from the on-board equipment. Then, the on-board equipment determines if the code of the electromagnetic, which is sent back, is identical to a specific code, and if the code is identical to the specific code, the system prepares for locking or unlocking the door. Consequently, if the user of the vehicle performs an operation, for example, for confirming the unlocking operation, the system transmits an unlock signal to bring an opening and closing mechanism of the door into an unlock state.
The system for confirming the door locking or unlocking operation is disclosed in JP3502848B (Page 5, FIGS. 1 and 2). In a grip portion of an operational handle disposed in an outer surface of an outer panel of a door, an unlock censor is disposed in a portion that a user's hand can be inserted between the grip portion and the outer panel and is located between the grip portion and the outer panel. A lock sensor is disposed in an end portion of the grip portion where are spaced away from the unlock sensor in a longitudinal direction of the grip portion.
However, as shown in FIG. 1 of JP3502848B, the lock sensor is disposed on a side of a guide arm which is located opposite to a supporting arm in a known system. Therefore, when the user of the vehicle inserts between the grip portion and the outer panel for the unlock operation and perform the operation, the use's hand is likely to be in contact with a detection range of the lock sensor, for example, by thumb. In this case, an unlocking instruction by the unlock sensor and a locking instruction by the lock sensor is performed at the same time and a proper signal may not be transmitted to a control device of a door lock. Further, the operation, which the user does not intend, may be performed. For example, when the door is open, the user's hand comes in contact the detection range of the lock sensor and the locking operation is performed.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a door handle apparatus for a vehicle reflecting the user's locking or unlocking intention.